Mary Mother of Jesus, Mother of God, Mother of the Church

Homily for Solemnity of Mary Mother of God Year C 2016

Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21

Introduction

Happy New Year to you all.  As you know, different cultures have different ways of celebrating the New Year.

·        Some do it with champagne and fireworks, as you did last night tonight. 

·        In New York City, they do it with the ball drop in Times Square.

·        And some oriental cultures do it with the dragon dance.

We Catholics also have our own special way of ushering in the New Year.  We celebrate Mass and specifically a Mass in honour of Mary, the Blessed Mother.  Among her many titles, today we celebrate her motherhood, a motherhood that is threefold: Mother of Jesus, Mother of God and Mother of the Church.

Scripture and Theology

That Mary is the mother of Jesus gives well with the Christmas season.  People often argue over when to take down the Christmas tree and Christmas decorations.  For some, the tree is in the trash, the day after Christmas.  Others follow a traditional custom that celebrates Christmas until February 2^nd, marking the day when Jesus was presented in the Temple, 40 days after his birth.

Actually the official end of Christmas, at least for Catholics, is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which is a week from Sunday.  Between Christmas and the Feast of the Lord's Baptism, we celebrate various feasts, including today's, that continue to unravel for us the mystery of Christmas – what it really means that the infant Jesus born of Mary, is the Son of God has come into our world:

·        Last Sunday's Feast of the Holy Family, pointed us to home of Joseph and Mary, where Jesus was raised as a man, by Mary his mother.

·        Today's celebration marks the eighth day, when as we heard in the gospel, Jesus was circumcised and given a name according to Jewish custom. 

·        The next two Sundays,  the Epiphany and the Baptism will round of the Christmas Season, by revealing Jesus to the world.

And so, our New Year's Mass, in honour of Mary is part of this litany of Christmas feasts; its specific contribution to the Christmas message is Mary's motherhood of Jesus.

If you lived next door to Mary and Joseph in Nazareth and you saw her passing by and you said, "there goes the mother of Jesus," nobody would bat an eyelid.  Everybody in Nazareth up knew that Mary was the mother of Jesus.  But if you shouted, "there goes the Mother of God," you would be lucky to get away with your life; for according to Jewish understanding, you would be committing blasphemy, suggesting that Jesus, a human being, is God.

But Christians have always believed that Mary is not only the mother of Jesus, but also of the mother of the Son of God.  In this belief we follow the testimony of the shepherds whose story we heard in the gospel of Christmas and today.

·        At Christmas we heard that the angel appeared to the shepherds and announced that in the city of David a Saviour had been born, who was Messiah and Lord.  The angels instructed the shepherds on how to find this Messiah, saying: "you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger" (Lk. 2:10-12).

·        In today's passage we hear that the shepherds did as they were told and they "found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger."  Most importantly, they believed what the angel had told them: that tiny helpless baby carried by his rather poor parents, was truly the Messiah, the Saviour of the world, God’s Son.  We heard in the gospel that even Mary found this news rather too much to grasp at once; "Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart."  The Shepherds went about spreading this Good News about the birth of God's Son, news they had heard and seen.

Let me share with you again a custom from my home country of Uganda, of calling mothers not by their own names or even the names of their husbands, but by names of their children.  A mother is often referred to by a phrase that roughly translates as “mother of so-and-so.”  My mother, for example, is rarely called by her name "Josephine," but is referred to as “Mama Deo,” after me.

Most mothers appreciate this custom, since it emphasizes their role of motherhood.  But spare a thought for mothers whose children turn out bad; no woman would like to be referred to as the "mother of so-and-so," the school bully.

Fortunately for Mary, she has a son, who gives her honour.  Because of who he is, both God and man, he gives his mother the title of "Mother of God."  And so, Mary’s motherhood of the man Jesus and of the Son of God are inseparable.

Christian Life

Finally, we come to the third theme of today's celebration, Mary as Mother of the Church. It is not by coincidence that we celebrate Mary's Motherhood on the very day we begin a new Calendar year.  It is like the Church is asking that we let Mary mother us throughout the year.  But how is she the Mother of the Church?

Let me share with you another family custom from my home country.

·        Your father's brothers, are not called "uncles," but simply "fathers."

·        Your mother's sisters, are also not called "aunts," but are your mothers too.

·        And their children are not your cousins, but are your brothers and sisters.

And so, one has many brothers and sisters, many fathers and mothers, who you have to treat exactly as you would treat your real siblings and parents.  Now if you thought having one mother nagging you all the time was bad, imagine what it is like having seven mothers!

Jesus too has shared his mother with us and allowed us to call her Mother.  As we heard in the second reading, through Jesus Christ we have received adoption as children of God.  We are no longer slaves, but children and heirs.  We are now allowed into the big house, where we can also call the Lady, Mother.

That's why when he is on the Cross about to die, Jesus points to Mary standing there and tells the apostle John: "This is your mother," and pointing to John he tells Mary, "This is your son."  Every one of us who is baptized is John; Mary is our Mother, the Mother of the Church.

1.    Like your mother and my mother gave birth to us, Mary gave birth to the Church by her intimate cooperation with the saving work of her son.

2.    Like your mother and my mother raised us by their example, Mary is an example of a model Christian, who listens to God and does his will.

3.    Like your mother and my mother care for us deeply, Mary in her Assumption, has gone before us, to intercede and prepare for us a place with her Son and the Father in heaven.

Conclusion

And so, on this eighth day after Christmas, which happens to be New Year's Day, let us ask our Blessed Mother, Mother of Jesus, Mother God and Mother of the Church, to intercede for our needs and the needs of others, throughout this year.

And let us ask her to join us as we pray for God's blessings, using the words God gave to Moses and Aaron in today's first reading:

May the Lord bless us and keep us;

may he let his face shine upon us and be gracious to us;

may he look upon us kindly and gives us peace.